Lessons 1-3 : Introduction and Fundamentals of Flight, Slow Flight and Stalls

Today was my first day back in the Sky Arrow. It had been six months since my last flight and I was eager but incredibly nervous. I expected to be rusty (it took a few positive G's from my flight instructor to get me back into the swing of things) but before I knew it I was feeling confident again. My flight instructor took me through the paces of basic aircraft control, radio communications, traffic pattern procedures, turns to heading, compass turning errors, slow flight, and power on/off stalls, dutch rolls, and tuning into Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS). Well, first thing first I needed to preflight the Sky Arrow. Not a problem. As long as I followed the preflight checklist the airplane "should" be safe to operate. After a quick review of taxiing and takeoff procedures (again follow the checklist) I was ready to fly. I pull up to the hold short line and radio call "Bay Bridge traffic, light sport 471 Sierra (S) Alpha (A), taking off runway two (2) niner (9), Bay Bridge". I taxi up to the runway and once on the runway a bunch of procedures that require multi-tasking fall into play. Rudder pedals to keep the aircraft in the center of the runway (a very critical component of a take off) full throttle to gain airspeed necessary to begin rotating (lifting the nose wheel off the ground) a little back pressure on the stick to help with rotation, continue to use rudder pedals to stay on the centerline, more back pressure on the stick around 40-45 kts (nautical miles per hour) begin climb out and the trim for a 65 kt climb exiting the traffic pattern. What a thrill! To feel the nose wheel become lighter and pulling back on the stick and feeling the floating sensation of being off the ground. Once I leveled off my flight instructor asked me to head to our practice area above the Eastern shore above beautiful farmland. It was a strenuous lesson but I was proud of how quickly I felt comfortable at the controls. While flying to the practice area I was asked to turn to specific headings. Now, if I were to follow my compass while in the coordinated turn I would never achieve a correct heading. As the airplane banks, the compass rotates within the aircraft as well as attempting to point toward magnetic north. This causes errors. In order to properly turn to a heading I had to "look out the window" (a phrase that has been drilled into my head) to see where the compass was pointing to, pick a landmark that the compass is pointing at, and then turn the plane to the landmark. Almost every time this procedure will direct me to the correct heading. I practiced some coordinated and uncoordinated turns and slow flight. Slow flight requires the ability to fly the airplane at a low power setting and a very slow airspeed to practice controlling the plane with "sluggish" controls. Power off stalls simulate the maneuvers to recover the airplane from a stall when coming into landing. The engines are at idle and the nose points to the ISS (the International Space Station is referenced every time I intentionally or more often than not unintentionally point the airplanes nose up towards space) and I continue to pull back on the stick until a stall is achieved. The plan drops for a second and I add full throttle and release a little back pressure of the stick and the plane recovers. The power on stalls simulate a stall from take off. The airplane is at full throttle headed to the ISS. I pull back as far as the stick will go until the plane begins to shutter and "bounce" and voila, a power on stall. Ease off the back pressure on the stick and the plane recovers. Ok enough maneuvers, it is time to head back to Bay Bridge and land this plane. The landing was nothing impressive....but no flat tires and I did not end up in a ditch. It was time for lunch and a nice relaxing break with my feet on the ground.